Killing My Darlings
by eirajenssen
Summary: My version of episode 11 in season 2 and what happens afterwards. Will they be able to save Elena and the others from Klaus? Will Elena try to sacrifice herself again? And how will Katherine and Stefan use the time together in the tomb?
1. The Beginning of the End

_(Elena)_

It was hard watching out for roots and rocks and other stuff that would make her trip, in the dark woods but she did her best. She knew he was coming after her although she couldn't hear him practically fly through the trees behind her. She just had to get home. She had to get away from it, all of it. So she ran, and she knew she'd get home a lot faster if she would just let Damon drive her but she didn't feel like sitting in the same car as him for even five minutes. She longed for her bed, for lying under the covers and pretending she didn't exist. But the thought of Stefan not being there to hold her as she drifted off to sleep made her want to turn on her heels and run straight back into his arms. Unfortunately, that was not an option. The panic came creeping up on her when she started thinking about how she was going to get Stefan out of the tomb. Both luckily and unfortunately, she didn't have much time to brood about that because something then caught her foot and she fell towards the ground. She stretched out her arms to stop herself from falling facedown but she never reached the ground – arms caught her midair. How very convenient of him. She had just started wondering how long he had been running behind her, waiting for her to trip or stumble, when she realized it was _he _who had made her trip and his foot that had caught hers.

"Clumsy, much?"

"Damon! Let go of me!" she screamed, trying to get out of his arms while he steadied her.

The arms disappeared then and he stopped, maybe waiting for her to calm down. She didn't. She could barely make out the lines of his body in the darkness, the only light coming from the stars and the moon.

"So. Because of your obvious lack of brains today, I guess I will have to explain the situation to you. Since Stefan is stuck in the tomb with the psychopathic bitch, I am the one who has to take on the assignment of protecting your stupid ass until we get him out", he said mockingly but somehow still stern and serious.

She knew he was angry with her. But she didn't answer and he continued:

"Do not for a second think that there'll be a rerun of the crap you've pulled today. Either I'm sleeping at your place or you're sleeping at mine. Choose."

"No…"

She started to protest but he stopped her:

"You know there are only two ways of doing this. You can yell at me some more while I throw you over my shoulder and carry you home_ or_ you can grow the fuck up and pick a place."

Yes, he was definitely angry. But Elena didn't feel like doing either. And she knew that the childish screaming tactic wouldn't work, although it was the one she most felt like using, so she tried a little more mature one.

"I know, Damon, but I really need to be with Jeremy a little, I have no idea how he's handling all this. Can't I just see you in the morning? It was true that she should talk about all this stuff with Jeremy but that wasn't the main reason she wanted to get away from Damon. She realized that she really didn't want to be alone that night and if she hadn't been so extremely angry with Damon, she'd probably been more than willing to sleep at his place, in Stefan's bed. But as it happened to be, she _was _extremely angry with him plus she felt she had to freak out a little, give in to the hopelessness that'd been hanging over her since she'd gone to see Katherine, and just… cry a little. Be a little human. And that was not something she wanted to do in front of Damon, angry with him or not. Then she got an idea.

"But, why don't you just get Jeremy to look after me? You know he'll do it."

"Well, yeah!" he exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course! The sixteen year old _human child _can look after you! Because he'll notice if you sneak out in the middle of the night to, I don't know, go on a stupid suicide mission!"

Elena just glared at him.

"You're place then?" he said and she could practically hear him smirking although she couldn't see his face.

He took hold of her upper arm and started dragging her after him towards the car. She knew that she'd lost and that it was useless to protest any more. He'd just get annoyed, maybe even angrier and last time she'd seen him angry, she suddenly remembered, he'd killed her little brother. Well yeah, turned him into a vampire, really, since Damon had known that Jeremy had blood in her system. What Damon hadn't known was that Elena's brother had been wearing a ring that protected him from dying in any supernatural way. But no, she corrected herself, Damon had been hurt that time, not angry. The memory of it still made her angrier though. And now she'd be stuck with this jackass for how long?

They got into Damon's car in silence and he started it up and began driving.

"Who's going to babysit me when I'm in school?" she asked sourly and hoped to god that it wouldn't be him.

"The witch girl is."

Thank god, she thought. At least that would be endurable.

"So," she began. "How're we getting Stefan out of that tomb?"

"First things first, we're dispelling that moonstone. Your witchy little friend isn't strong enough to take down the seal by herself anyway so we're gonna need someone to help with that."

"But… No! We need to get Stefan out of there!"

"No, Elena, we don't. What we need is to dispel that moonstone and save your life. Stefan isn't going anywhere; we can get him out whenever we feel like it." He smirked. "Or have time for it", he added unwillingly when he saw Elena's look.

"Okay", Elena said when they were standing on her porch. Jenna is not going to know about you staying over so…"

"Of course she's not", Damon said with faked hurt and disappeared.

Elena opened the door and entered her house. Jenna and Alaric were sitting in the kitchen, talking.

"Hi Elena!" Jenna called casually.

"Hi", said Alaric.

Elena managed a weak smile. "Hi guys." She started walking towards the stairs but Jenna wasn't done with her.

"What've you been up to today?"

"Just… Hanging out at Stefan's. Nothing special." The lie sounded absurd and for a moment Elena doubted Jenna would even believe it. Then she remembered that hanging out at the boyfriend's place was the kind of stuff Jenna expected Elena to do. Jenna asked a few things, like when Elena and Stefan had gotten back together and how Stefan was and Elena answered as normally as she could. She finally managed to throw in an "I'm really tired so I'm just going to go to bed" and stop the conversation. She hurried up the stairs and into Jeremy's room. She was careful to close the door behind her before she started the yelling.

"How could you be so stupid, Jer? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking saving your life, Elena! And Bonnie's and Tyler's and Caroline's and maybe even my own! And don't you come here and talk to me about being stupid", he finished with a knowing glare.

He knew. Elena turned around to find Damon looking very comfortable in Jeremy's chair. How could she not have seen him there?

"It wasn't a stupid plan", Elena said, her voice suddenly nothing but a whisper. All the power seemed to have gone from it. "And you would both see that if you were in my position. The moonstone-plan was idiotic and I told you so from the start. Someone was bound to get hurt and it's because of me. This is none of yours battle to fight. I know that this isn't about me anymore but it's supposed to be. And if I have a chance of sparing the others you should let me take it. I know you want to save me, Jer, and I love you, but you can't. This has always been my faith and no matter which road I choose to walk Klaus will be at the end of it."

There were tears in Jeremy's eyes when she stopped talking and she hated herself for telling him these things but it had to be done. And she wished with all of her heart that Jeremy wouldn't have to lose another family member, it just wasn't fair. But life was not fair, the world had made that clear a long time ago.

"No", he started as she sat down beside him. "No, there has to be a way…"

And she wanted to tell him that there was one. She wanted to tell him that everything would be okay but she couldn't. It would though. Someday Jeremy would have a wife and some children and a house and a job somewhere. Or maybe he wouldn't, maybe he would choose another way to live his life but anyway he did it he would e happy again. Though he didn't believe that now, he would be okay. He would hurt a whole lot for a while but he would heal eventually. She knew from experience that the holes after the one's you've lost always would be there, but the edges would not always bleed.

She sat down on the bed beside her little brother and put her arms around him. "I'm so sorry", she whispered. Jeremy didn't return the hug.

"No", he repeated and pulled away.

Elena didn't know what to say. She sat there beside him for a little while before she said good night and got up. Then she spotted Damon. She couldn't put her finger on what had changed in his body but he certainly did not look comfortable anymore. But what surprised Elena was his face. He was frowning slightly and there was something with his eyes. It looked as if something had broken in them. She didn't like that.

When she'd opened the door Damon was right behind her. He followed her into her room where he stood, motionless, staring into nowhere with that little crease between his eyebrows and that strange expression in his eyes. Elena's stomach made a strange sound, reminding her that she should eat something. She told Damon so and left him in her room to go downstairs and get a sandwich. She stayed in the kitchen to eat it, reading about things normal humans would see as abnormal and outstanding, in the newspaper.

When she returned to her room Damon looked more like his old self. He was stretched out on her bed, his hands behind his head.

"Too bad I didn't bring any PJ's", he smirked, but Elena noticed there was still something weird with his eyes.

She shrugged. "Yeah. You may freeze."

"On top of the covers? That's not very hospitable of you, Elena."

She grabbed her pajamas and bathroom stuff and turned to him with a stern face. "The chair or your own bed, Damon. Your choice." With those words she walked out of the room, into the bathroom.

When she returned, makeup gone and PJ's on, Damon hadn't moved an inch. The window he'd supposedly gotten in through earlier was wide open. She could feel his gaze sliding up and down her body while she got over to shut it. She ignored his intrusive eyes and stopped in front of him, hands on her hips.

"Damon", she said in a hard voice. "Off. _Now._"

And in an instant he was on the chair, looking comfortable again. Elena crept under the covers and let out a deep sigh. She felt as if she'd never needed sleep more in her whole life. And although she knew Damon would not be able to protect her if Elijah or even Klaus showed up, she felt safer having him there, as safe as she could feel at the moment.

"Elena", Stefan said. "Elena, you're hurting me."

"Stefan", Elena said, not really listening. "Why is there a hand in your chest?"

"Elena", he said and his voice was toneless and his face as blank as a sheet of paper. "Please stop, Elena."

Then the hand came out of Stefan's chest and there was something red and round in it.

"Elena. You're hurting me."

"Stefan", she began but then noticed the hand was hers. There was a very big hole in Stefan's chest now. "I'm sorry", she said. "I didn't mean to."

Then Stefan smiled and it was beautiful but it wasn't Stefan anymore, it was Damon. Damon fell to the ground and Elena noticed that there already were a lot of people down there. Although it didn't look like them at all she knew that it was all of her friends and her family, including her parents.

She awoke with a start, gasping for breath, her heart racing and something wet all over her face. She sat up, trying to calm down but it wasn't very easy.

"Elena?" Damon's voice came from a place a lot closer than it should be and she jumped. "It was a bad dream. You're safe."

She nodded, still breathless, knowing he would see it in the darkness. Bad dream. Nothing more.

But that really wasn't true, was it?


	2. Backstab to Rescue

_(Bonnie)_

She had a bad feeling when she awoke. Maybe it was because of the day before, maybe it lingered from some bad dream she couldn't remember. Maybe it was her sixth sense telling her that this was a day to be cautious. Unlike every other day, or what? Maybe extra cautious then.

They were having an emergency meeting at the boarding house before school so it was a bit earlier than usual when she pulled herself out of bed. It felt curious, complaining to herself about going up early instead of things like not being strong enough as a witch to do a spell right. Thinking about that made her angry. She hated feeling weak as a witch and she hated that Damon knew about it. But she could still take him down easily. If she needed to.

It felt a little as if they'd become some kind of supernatural hero group when they gathered at the old boarding house. There were the two vampire brothers; one bad, one good, the witch, the human vampire hunter, the doppelganger and the human that couldn't be killed (if you didn't snatch his ring before doing it, that is). But the good vampire brother was currently missing from the hero group and that is why this meeting had been arranged. Or maybe it was for discussing the dispelling of the moonstone, Bonnie wasn't sure.

Damon stood by the liquor table pouring himself a large glass of whisky, Elena was on the couch looking tense and impatient and Jeremy was in a chair looking kind of tired, when Bonnie and Alaric walked in.

"Seven thirty?" Alaric said, raising his eyebrows at Damon. "Really, Damon?"

"Oh right", Damon replied with fake horror, putting down the glass. "There're all these standards I have to follow! No, wait", he added in a whisper. "I don't." Then he raised the glass and swiped the whisky.

"Interesting", Elena said coldly. "Can we please get on with the 'Getting Stefan Out of the Tomb-plan' now?"

Damon turned to her. "You mean the 'Dispelling the Moonstone-plan'?"

"No, Damon. I mean the 'Getting Stefan Out of the Tomb-plan'."

"But, Elena", Damon said, talking as if he was explaining something to a child or someone slightly mentally retarded. "We're starting with the dispelling, remember?"

"Can you please just grow up for five minutes, Damon? Stefan is stuck in that tomb with Katherine and we need to get him out of there. You know he'd do it if it was you."

Then Damon was suddenly serious too. "I am not the naive one in here, Elena", he hissed. "Klaus could show up any time to end you and that stone better be dispelled when he does. And I know exactly what my brother would have done first and I can promise you it hadn't been rescuing me. It won't hurt anybody to have him in there a couple of days."

Bonnie's stomach seemed to drop a little at the thought of Klaus coming for them but Elena's face remained stern.

"Now if you actually think that Klaus will stop from killing us because we dispelled the moonstone he's after, you truly are the naive one in here, Damon."

Damon opened his mouth to continue the arguing but Bonnie was faster.

"Can the two of you please just knock it off?" Bonnie exclaimed. What was the matter with those two? How did they think they were ever going to accomplish something that way? "Dispelling the moonstone is the best plan we've got for now, so we're sticking to it. And as much as I hate saying it, Damon is right; Klaus could be here anytime now so I'd better get started on that. But we are getting Stefan out as well." She looked at Elena who was still looking a bit angry. "But to both things we are going to need another witch or warlock. A strong one."

"I was thinking", Elena began.

"Good for you", Damon whispered irritatingly.

"And when you and Sheila opened the tomb together", she continued, ignoring him. "She lit fires, one for each of the four elements. And she poured out some water. Would it help you if you did that too?"

"Yes", Bonnie said, nodding slowly. "I need to learn to summon and use the powers of nature." She had been planning on doing this for a while now, but there hadn't been any time for preparation yesterday. "But I will still not be able to do it myself." She thought of Lucca, whose power she'd channeled without asking. But it had been an emergency. She really did feel bad about it and hoped he was okay. Maybe both he and his dad could help opening the tomb. But could three witches or warlocks channel together? Yes, it should work. But why would Lucca's dad help them? And she wasn't completely sure she could trust either of them with these things. But maybe her and Lucca's strengths would be enough to dispel the moonstone. She would have to try to persuade him.

"At the masquerade ball", Jeremy said when everybody had let Bonnie think for a minute or two. "Katherine had a witch with her. And she helped us. And she's your cousin or whatever, isn't she? What if she could help us again?"

"But why would she? She was the one who got Katherine in there in the first place. Why would she help us get her out?" Bonnie wondered.

"Because she wants to live?" Damon said cockily.

"You know you can't fight a witch that powerful, Damon", Elena said in a low voice and Bonnie agreed. Damon was going to be seriously hurt if kept underestimating witches that way. Not that she cared.

"But if she won't help us we'll try to find another witch", Elena said. "And when we do find one and get Stefan out it will hard keeping Katherine in there. And if she does get out she will want revenge on the witch that got her in there in the first place, and that means your cousin's in a lot of trouble, Bonnie."

"Yeah…" Bonnie said, thinking. "Katherine will get out one way or another eventually and if Bree is the witch to help her out maybe they could call it even... But I'll talk to Lucca first."

"Wait", Alaric, who'd been quiet during the whole discussion, said. "What do we do with Katherine if she gets out? And she has to if this is going to be the deal we make with that witch."

Nobody seemed to have any answers to that.

"This all sounds just spectacular", Damon finally said. "But how do we even get her to help with the moonstone?"

Nobody seemed to have any answers to that either.

"I'm going to use the bathroom", Elena said after a moment and got up. "You guys keep thinking." Then she got up and walked out into the hallway.

"What are you doing, Elena?" Damon suspiciously asked after no more than a few seconds.

"I'm looking for my cell phone, Damon", Elena answered tiredly, her voice coming from the hallway.

Damon disappeared, moving so quickly Bonnie's human eyes couldn't catch it.

"No, you're not; it's in your jeans pocket."

"No, it's… Oh, yeah, it is."

Then they heard her steps moving towards the bathroom.

_(Damon, about twelve hours later)_

It had gotten dark outside. Elena was lying on his couch, dozing off. He knew she hadn't gotten much sleep last night because he'd been able to tell from the sound of her breathing that she hadn't fallen asleep after she'd woken up from that bad dream around four A.M. He'd wanted to comfort her but it had been hard because of all those lines she didn't allow him to cross. These kind of irritating things were part of the reason he had chosen the lifestyle he'd had the last 146 years. Lines and rules and being denied the things you wanted. When blood, sex and his good little brother's misery were the only things he desired, withholdings had been easy to ignore. But those days were clearly over. He sighed mentally.

He hadn't fallen asleep after Elena had woken up either but vampires weren't nearly as dependent on sleep as humans. It was ridiculous how much they needed it and how dysfunctional they got without it. And food. If they didn't eat for like five hours they got all grumpy and annoying. But it sure was tastier with a well-fed human. Oh right. _Food. _He'd completely forgotten about feeding her. He took out his cell and checked the time. 20.17. That wasn't too bad. For all he knew, eight was a perfectly fine hour to feed at. He called an inquiry to get the number for a pizza place and went into the kitchen so he wouldn't wake Elena.

But after ordering the pizza he didn't feel like doing nothing for the time it took for the pizza to get there, so he decided to wake Elena after all. He went into the living room and started up a fire in the fire place opposite the couch in which Elena was half-lying, leaning against the armrest.

"Rise and shine sleepyhead!" he said in his most innocent and cheerful voice as he sat down at the other end of the couch, putting her feet in his lap.

She jumped and looked a bit disoriented for a moment.

"Terrifying way of waking up, isn't it?"

She replied with a grumpy look and stretched, yawning. Damon hoped she'd cheer up when he'd gotten some food into her.

"Hope you're hungry, pizza's on its way."

"Not really", she answered and he smiled at her, saying:

"Eat it anyway."

"How long have I slept?" she asked.

"About twenty minutes. Did you know that you snore?"

"Did you know that you whine?"

"I don't whine."

"And I don't snore."

"How do you know? You know Stefan's too considerate to tell you."

"I doubt it. How do you know you don't whine?"

"A vampire's ears are so sensitive it'd wake one up."

"Sure it would", she snorted but smiled a little. Damon felt pleased with himself.

"You want a drink?" he asked, not to hopeful.

"Sure, why not?"

"There you go, Elena", he said encouragingly while getting up to get them drinks. "It's not that bad. Being fun. You should try it a bit more."

She smiled a sarcastic smile. "It's not that bad not being a psychopath either, Damon. You should try it a bit more."

"Snap", he said and handed her a glass.

She took a sip.

"Yaak, this is gross."

"Wouldn't be a problem for you, would it?" He was thinking of the shotting skills she'd shown in Atlanta.

"Of course not", she said cockily and took a big gulp. "But you know, I really feel like I should do something a bit more useful tonight."

"Get over it, Elena", he said, sighing but still in a joking tone. "There's nothing either of us can do right now. Bonnie will try to get witch boy to help her dispel the moonstone and our presences would not exactly help."

"Yeah, I know", Elena said and this time it was her turn to sigh. "It would just feel better knowing we were getting closer to getting him out of there."

"Why can't you just agree to start with the dispelling?"

His friendly but straight way of asking seemed to catch her of guard.

"I know you don't think it will work, but really, what's there to lose?"

She looked away, at the fire, and kept her eyes there while speaking. "Don't you understand, Damon? _I don't think it will work,_ it doesn't matter whether Klaus knows it was us who did it or not – he'll kill us all in white, hot rage.That means I don't think that there's that much time left for me. And I really need everybody I love around me now. Of course I want to try the dispelling, maybe it will save the others, but I just want Stefan with me first."

There was something wet glistening in her eye and he was suddenly standing up. He just had to go somewhere, away from the living room where her words still hung in the air, thickening it. He went down to the basement and got himself a blood bag from the fridge. He ripped off the plastic straw attached to it, to make the blood flow out easier, and drank a few gulps before returning to the living room where she sat, legs pulled up to her chest, still staring into the fire. He went to sit beside her again and put the blood bag on the table.

"Elena", he said. She nodded, still not taking her eyes from the fire. "Elena, look at me." He waited until she did. "We will not let anything happen to you. Do you understand me? Not you or anybody you care about."

"You still don't get it, Damon! That's the problem! You'll die before you let anything happen to me and so will Stefan! You won't be able to protect me from this, and that means he'll just start with the two of you." She quickly wiped away tear trying to escape her eye.

The door bell rang and Damon went to open it. He didn't know what to say to her anyway, how to fix this. She was right. He'd die before he let anyone touch her. But he was going to find a way to save her. There had to be one.

He received the pizza from the pizza delivery, which he compelled to think he'd gotten the money, and went back inside. He found a knife in the kitchen and sliced up the pizza. He also filled a glass with cold water and brought it with him to the living room. In silence he placed it all on the table in front of her. He had just lifted up the blood bag to drink some more when his phone vibrated. "Alaric", it said.

"What?" he answered and took a large gulp blood.

"I just noticed that one of my just-in-case-vervainshots is missing from my bag and I…"

That was all Damon heard before he felt the vervain in his body, burning inside him and immediately wakening him so much that he fell to the floor, unable to move.


	3. Never Look Back

**Hey you guys.**** This is a rather short chapter but it kind of felt right to end it there.**

**I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of the characters etc. etc. You know how it goes.**

**Enjoy. **

_(Elena)_

"Elena." Damon's voice was barely audible as he spoke and still she could tell he was straining to get the words out. His eyes, on the other hand, spoke freely, burning with rage. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry", she whispered, tears escaping her eyes and starting running down her cheeks. She didn't bother wiping them away – they'd just be replaced by new ones. "I'm so sorry, Damon. But I think there's a way I can save everyone, including Bonnie, Tyler and Caroline." Tears started stocking up in her eyes.

"No, Elena", Damon began, but Elena interrupted him.

"No, Damon, listen to me", she said, kneeling down to sit beside him. "I know you will hate me for doing this. I know you want to protect me, I know you would die to save me, but you can't. You can't save me this time. This is my faith; this has always been my faith. No matter what road I choose to walk, Klaus will be waiting at the end of it. I'm going to take the short road there. I'm not letting anybody die for me."

"Elena, please", he choked out.

She wanted to touch him, take his hand and promise him it'd be alright. But she couldn't. Partly because she wasn't so sure it would be alright, partly because she wasn't sure about the amount of strength he could bring up to hold her there.

"Listen to me... You can't give up yet... You have to let us try. We... We don't know how Klaus will... react. Maybe he won't... take the... anger out on... on you. Please... Please, Elena... Just wait..."

She could tell how hard it was for him to speak. She had doubted she would live to see the day when Damon begged and it made her so sad to see that he was going to be turned down so harshly now that he did.

"You're right, Damon", she whispered. "Maybe he won't take it out on me. Maybe he'll take it out on Bonnie; she is the witch after all."

"Stefan will never... get over this... He'll... he'll kill himself, Elena. You can't do this... to him..."

"It will be hard", she said, nodding. "But he won't give up." She wished she had some certainty to put behind these words; but the truth was she was really worried about him. "But you wouldn't let him do that. I know you wouldn't."

"You don't know anything", he hissed and the rage he was trying so hard to hide showed in his eyes for a moment. "You... have never... seen me angry... for real..."

"I know I haven't. But it doesn't matter. I know you, no matter if you want me to or not."

"I should have known... You would... let me down too... You're just like her... But you think you're... taking the hard way, Elena... But what about... the ones that... loves you? The truth is you're... taking the easy way... No pain... You think you're... looking out for us but... You're just too scared... too even try to... save us the pain... of losing you."

She stared at him, feeling the tears welling up again. It hurt so badly, being compared to Katherine by him. The water started pouring and so did the words.

"No", she whispered, her voice even less audible than his. "You're right. I am too scared, Damon. I am too scared to take the risk of seeing my loved ones die. And it's true. I can't bear the guilt of one of your lives on my conscience. I could never live with that. But if the loss of my life, can save several others, won't it be worth it then? And I'm sorry for letting you down, Damon. But if this is letting somebody down, you have screwed me over so many times by now. I'm trying to save your life. And I'm sorry that you don't like it and I'm sorry for what I am about to do."

She got up and took out the vervainshot she had hidden under a cushion in the couch. She hoped the remaining vervain would be enough when she apologized a last time before she stabbed the shot in his side. He immediately fell out of consciousness. She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath before she began searching for a good vein. She really had no idea how to do this.

_(Stefan)_

"What do you think they're doing right now, Stefan?" she asked with the voice of a purring tigress.

"Don't push it, Katherine. You know I fed a lot more recently you and am thereby stronger."

"Oh, but you forget, my love. You aren't. Thanks to the wonderful Elena I fed just a few days ago – on _human _blood. And I'm still twice your age so go ahead, little boy: bring it."

He didn't answer. She was right. He'd forgotten about her and Elena's little negotiation the other day. He wouldn't be able to make her shut up and he didn't know how long he would be able to stand her teasing. Because she was right there too. Damon had what he wanted – time with Elena – and he was not likely to do all in his power to end that time right away. And although Stefan trusted Elena with all of his heart, the thought of her being alone with the undeniably charming Damon when Stefan knew they had some kind of special bond and that his brother was in love with her, truly bothered him. And the fact that Elena wouldn't come see him – because he'd asked Damon to keep her away himself – didn't make it any easier.

"But I wouldn't hurt you", Katherine suddenly said in a surprisingly soft voice. "All I've said has been the truth. And although you would never allow yourself to realize it, you love me too. And one day, I hope, we will be together again."

"I never loved you, Katherine", he began.

"Keep telling yourself", she said mockingly, back to her old self. "Our love was pure, Stefan, and I've already told you so. The fact that you are still denying such an apparent truth only makes it more obvious that it isn't gone. And tell me again, why did you come back here to get to know the girl that is a human copy of me, if it was not to replace me?"

He didn't need to explain himself to her. But he felt an urge to prove her wrong.

"Because she _does _look exactly like you", he said, struggling a bit to remain calm. "I was curious. I had to find out why."

"Okay, so why didn't you just look it up? Falling in love with her wouldn't get you any answers."

"I never planned to fall in love with anyone, Katherine. I had to talk to her, to see what she was like, and when I found out there was no stopping it. I don't care whether you believe it or not; I don't care whether you love me or if you're lying again, which you probably are. I love Elena and I always will."

"But that's just the thing, Stefan! You do care!"

"STOP TELLING ME WHAT I FEEL!" Stefan finally roared, mentally cursing at himself for losing his temper while grasping her forearms and throwing her into a wall.

She didn't offer any resistance, just hit the wall with a hard thud and landed on her feet.

"I know you don't want to", she whispered, her voice so low that a human would not have been able to make out the words since she didn't bother to walk up to him again. "Because you shouldn't. After what I did to you the logic and self preserving thing would be to hate me, but in love there is no logic or self preservation. There's only this." And she was standing right in front of him then, so very, very close, her breath in his ear and her lips almost touching his skin as she whispered:

"There is nothing special with Elena. She could be any girl, she just happens to look like me. And you know you won't last very long. She deserves the chance to live a human life and you would never take that away from her, Stefan. You're too good. And although I know, Stefan, better than anyone, that I don't deserve you, I will be waiting. And I also know that you will probably never give me the chance to spend eternity making everything I've done up to you but for what it's worth: _I'm sorry_."

Then they heard the footsteps and were both at the entrance in a flash.


	4. Our Last Goodbye

**Another short chapter. Promise you update soon.**

_(Elena)_

"Elena." His face turned blank.

"Elena", Katherine smirked.

The contrast of the two ways of saying her name would almost have been laughable in a completely different situation. Elena suddenly had no idea what to say. She had planned her whole little speech in Damon's car, which she very ashamed had borrowed for an indefinite time, but now, when she stood before him, looking into his puzzled eyes, she couldn't remember a word.

"Hi", she finally said. She didn't like the way her voice sounded: small, weak and scared shitless. The fact that those were the emotions she above all felt at that moment didn't have anything to do with things, she already knew she could not ignore those feelings, but she had to pretend to be strong and certain of her choice, otherwise her plan would never work.

"What are you doing here?"

How could she ever tell him this? How could she ever destroy him like that? Damon had been horrible enough and he hadn't been able to scream at her. But it was for Stefan and the others she was doing this in the first place, she reminded herself, and instantly felt a little reassured that she was doing the right thing. She closed her eyes so she would not have to see his reaction.

"I've come to say goodbye", she said and her voice sounded miraculously strong. And hard. It sounded hard. Stefan didn't reply immediately. Neither did Katherine and that surprised Elena. She had assumed that Katherine would do everything in her power to do destroy Elena and Stefan's last moment together. Last. That word had not yet crossed her mind before now, or rather, she had succeeded to lock that word out of her mind until now. Without thinking she opened her eyes. Stefan was still staring at her face blankly. She wished he would stop. She wished he would say something, anything. Something changed in his eyes. A kind of desperate determination took shape in them and he stared out into the air, or at least that is what he would have appeared to be doing to someone less well informed than Elena. She, on the other hand, strongly suspected that Stefan was staring at the invisible seal that separated him from her. He put a hand on it and it looked so strange, as if he was a very talented mime, pretending to being trapped in an invisible cube.

"Stefan?" Elena said and he looked at her then and she had never seen a face so desperate. "I know it's hard, Stefan. But you have to accept this. You have to accept that it's over. I have to do this."

"No, Elena, listen to me! All we know is what Katherine has told you! She's a liar, Elena! You can't believe her!"

"But that's not true. Rose, Slater, everybody has told us that he's one of the originals. That's really all that matters. No one and nothing can protect me from this."

"But we don't know about the being vengeful part! If he'll never know who dispelled the moonstone, maybe he'll just…" Elena could tell he didn't believe his own words.

"What? Let it go?"

He didn't seem to find the words right away. "Elena… You've got to listen to me. Just wait, please wait. Let me get out of here and we'll talk about it. We can at least try. Let's just… let's talk."

She smiled a sad smile through the tears – she'd actually thought that she might have emptied her lachrymals by then, the water there seemed to be endless. "But you would never have let me go." And she knew she couldn't stay longer. She had no idea how long Damon would be out and she'd already stayed too long. "I've already waited too long. I just came to say goodbye. And I need you to promise me you'll take care of yourself. And Jeremy."

"Elena, no!" he yelled and seemed to push hard against the seal. "Elena, listen to me!" Then he seemed to remember something. "Katherine", he said and turned to her – she was still standing just a few feet behind him. "If you're telling the truth and still love me, then you will do this for me. Tell her it wasn't true, admit that you lied. Admit that there could be a way to save her."

A heavy silence followed.

"I've decided to start trying to do the right things", Katherine finally said slowly. "And I will not tell you any more lies. All I've said has been the truth."

"No!" Stefan yelled at her. "You're the same manipulating bitch that you've always been. You've just found a new way to destroy our lives!"

"Please, Stefan", Elena whispered. Then she turned around and walked away before she changed her mind. His screams bounced between the stone walls behind her. He called her back, he begged her, and she spun around and faced him again.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled, her face a mess and her voice breaking. "But I won't let you die for me! I love you and I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me." With those words she turned once again and ran. She made it to the car and if someone had been there, if Damon had been sitting there, comforting her, then it wouldn't have been just as hard. If she hadn't been all alone. But there was no time to curl up in her seat and break down, so she started up the car and started speeding towards her death.


	5. First Come

**This chapter is a bit more hardcore than the others so if anyone is very sensitive, you are hereby warned. Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been a bit busy (it is Christmas, after all). But here it is now, a long, juicy double holiday-chapter.**

**Have a great holiday and enjoy the new chapter!**

**Cheers.**

_(Elena)_

It had started snowing violently as she followed the dimly lit highway towards the apartment that used to be Slater's – she'd memorized the way when Rose had driven her there, knowing she might have to go there again, alone. She used all her mental power to push the faces of her loved ones away, because although she was the one leaving and not them, they would be separated no less.

It didn't take that long to get there and as she stepped out of her car her stomach dropped. She really was going through with this, wasn't she? And she really felt like she was getting closer to something, an ending perhaps, when she opened the front door, entered the stairwell and prayed to god – something she rather rarely did since she wasn't religious – that the apartment would be empty. She stopped outside the door, listening carefully. But if there were any vampires in there they'd probably heard her parking her car and opening the front door and walking up the stairs, and were now just holding their breaths in there, waiting for her. She reminded herself that this was what she'd chosen, that it was the only way, swallowed hard and entered the apartment. The place felt a little abandoned, the air smelled stuffy, but she couldn't be too sure. Slowly, she went through the room, peeking around every corner. There he was: Slater – or rather what was left of him – untouched. His body was greyer than the last time she'd been there, as if it was turning into ash right there on the floor. Maybe that was just the case.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the apartment was empty and hurried over to the computer. She'd memorized the passwords too of course, though she hadn't thought about it at the time. She found the emails, the ones about her. After she'd gone through them all she typed down a short message and sent it to everyone that could be useful: "_A human doppelganger exists and she is currently at Slater's apartment. First come._" Now was the time. She got the blood out of her bag and just the thought of it, drinking vampire blood, blood that she'd stolen from her friend, made her want to throw up. But she took the container out of the shot and put it to her mouth and:

"You know, there are a lot of vampires, like myself, that don't respond very well to the thought of humans stealing and drinking their blood."

She screamed and spun around so fast she almost fell, to face the source of the soft and purring and absolutely terrifying voice that appeared to be right behind her. But before she'd gotten any more than a short glimpse of the fair-haired man dressed in black standing behind her she was flying, the apartment, the stairwell, the parking lot passing by in a flash. She screamed at the top of her lungs and fought to get out of whoever it was' arms and to push away the hand covering her mouth, but it was useless, of course. It always was.

She was thrown into something that she guessed to be the trunk of a car and it started moving. She felt so sick she had to take deep, even breaths with closed eyes to keep from throwing up. _Oh god, what have I done?_ she screamed to herself mentally, knowing she had poisoned and sedated her only chance of being saved.

The drive seemed to go on forever, though it probably didn't take more than twenty minutes or so. Time seem to have a way of stretching out when one is travelling in the trunk of the vampire that has kidnapped one and in the present probably are taking one to meet one's death.

However, the trunk finally opened and the sunlight fell on Elena's face. The kidnapper obviously had one of those rings. He looked as if he was in his early twenties but Elena suspected that he was a lot older than that. He had blonde hair, perfectly messy, and his eyes shone light-blue in his pretty, carefree, boyish face. Elena thought that he must had been a very popular young man in his human life, the kind of boy that's got that so attracting playfulness in his smile and all those possibilities in his eyes. Two years ago she'd probably fallen for that kind of boy as well, if she'd found one. And as he smiled at her now there was definitely playfulness in his eyes, just not the kind she had in mind. This was the kind of playfulness that said: "I can think of so many fun ways to eat you", rather than "Let's borrow my dad's car without asking and drive down to the lake and swim naked in the moonlight".

"Hello precious", he said and scooped her up, immediately putting a hand over her mouth, and she had just enough time to throw a short look at the townhouse they'd stopped outside before he had run down to the basement, or well, that was her guess, not being entirely sure of what had flashed past them.

They were in a small square room with concrete walls, floor and ceiling. There were plywood bookcases covering one of the walls, in them there were regular cardboard boxes, as if it was any regular basement were any normal and human interactions took place.

The vampire dropped Elena at the cold floor and eyed her while she strained to get up fast. Then he was standing right in front of her, staring at her with an intense look in his eyes. She tried to step away but his hand caught her wrist and held her there.

"You really do look just like her…" he said.

"You know Katherine?" she asked, not sure how knowing the answer to that would ever help her out of this situation.

"Sound just like her too", he said, ignoring her question, while raising his other hand to touch her cheek.

Elena stood frozen, paralyzed with fear, as his fingertips started at her temple and lightly traced the line of her cheekbone from there and then went on to her lips, before continuing down her neck.

His fingers touched her necklace then and it appeared to burn them.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, surprised, then understood. "Oh. Vervain. Right, of course, vampire boyfriend." He took hold of the chain and ripped the necklace of her before continuing the caressing of her neck.

"You don't smell like her", he whispered, taking another step closer and breathing in her scent while staring at a spot on her neck. "Not at all. And you wouldn't taste like her."

"Klaus would kill you", she spit out, realizing what he was tempted to do. Unlucky for her, this vampire didn't seem to have much control of his actions. Maybe he was new.

"You think? After bringing him the doppelganger? What would he care if I'd had a little taste?"

"You don't know Klaus", she continued desperately. "He is one of the originals and he is not a tolerant guy. He'd kill you without blinking."

But he didn't even seem to be listening anymore. He was staring at what she guessed to be her carotid artery.

"No", she whispered without thinking and instinctively tried to run, but before she'd had time to take even one step her back was against one of the walls and she could feel the sharp, quick pain of his teeth penetrating her skin and she screamed at the very top of her lungs and he was pressed against her, his hands holding her wrists to the wall on each side of her. She screamed and screamed and noticed that the pain grew worse the more she tried to resist him, but she couldn't _not _fight him, though she knew it was totally useless. She couldn't just relax and accept the fact that he was draining her. And the task to stop fighting it became even more impossible when she felt him _chewing _on the flesh of her neck, maybe greedy for a bigger blood flow. The pain, however, was unbearable. She screamed and fought for her life and he just continued drinking, chewing at her artery to get the blood out of her. She knew he wasn't able to stop and things started getting foggy around her, her screams becoming all the more weak.

Then something changed. The blonde vampire disappeared and she fell to the floor. There were more people in the room now, two more maybe, or maybe just one, she wasn't sure, it all seemed so blurry and far away. There was a lot of yelling, someone asked what the hell he was doing and wondered what he was thinking of. The blonde one seemed to be called Noah.

Elena lied on the floor, struggling to breathe properly and keep her eyes open. Someone, a new, dark man, picked her up then, and held her against the wall. Everything was spinning and something warm and wet was pouring down her front.

"Give her your blood!" someone yelled from the other side of the room, maybe it was the blonde one, Noah.

"No! She could turn!" the dark man who'd picked her up yelled back.

"Or it could heal her!"

"No, the damage is too big. We'll just have to try to stop the blood flow."

There was ripping of fabric, maybe somebody's clothing, and then something was pressed against her neck and it hurt so badly and then somebody was on her again and everything just blurred together in one confusing mess. The only thing that was really clear was the pain. But she was too weak to scream and now there was yelling again.

"ED! ED, GET OFF HER!"

And the person on her disappeared and she fell down again and she could see now that there were just two vampires in the room and neither of them could control themselves. Then the blonde one took hold of the dark one, Ed, and the door slammed and she was alone. She fumbled for the fabric Ed had pressed against her neck, knowing she had to stop the blood flow if she wanted to live. As her hands slid over the floor, searching for it, they touched something else. It was her necklace, squished. Someone had to have stepped on it with a lot of force. The vervain was coming out of it. This gave her an idea. She struggled to focus and get the vervain out, put it in her mouth and managed to push it down her throat. Now they wouldn't be able to drink from her if they lost control again. But the blood was still pouring from her neck and she finally found the piece of fabric and pressed it against the wound on her neck, using all the strength she had left – which wasn't very much at all – and trying to ignore the pain. She strained to take deep breaths, lying on her back and keeping her eyes open. But her surroundings slipped further and further away from her and it was so hard to stay awake, being so extremely tired. But maybe Klaus would leave her friends and family alone if she died here? He would of course kill Ed and Noah but that hardly bothered her. Maybe she could close her eyes now, maybe she could let it all be over, and they wouldn't get hurt? The thought of resting was so attracting that she ran out of strength and will to resist it and her eyes shut then and she let go, drifting away into dark, soft peacefulness.


	6. Touch 'n' Go

It was never a question of how he would do it, or whether he would succeed in the action – the two vampires was doomed the minute he walked through the door. He could smell her blood, so fresh strongly, from the basement. And they stood in his way. With the blood – her blood – on their lips. They came out of the kitchen as he entered and he saw the chairs in there (most vampires know that chairs are nothing but a few stakes put together with some other pieces of wood). They put up a fight, of course, but they were both young, one of them no more than a few weeks, he could tell, and were no match for Damon, his rage boosting his strength considerably. He staked the youngest first with a leg from the chair, then pushed the other one up against the wall and ripped his heart out. Then he ran down to the basement to meet the most terrifying sight of his death. She was lying on her back by the wall, her hair spread out like a crown around her head. Her torso was soaked with blood, her face was paler than Damon's own and her eyes: closed. Closed as they'd never been closed before, perhaps. But he mustn't think like that. He was going to save her. He instantly bit his wrist and knelt by her side, holding her head up. Yes, she was still breathing and her heart was still beating, though weakly.

"Come on", he whispered, trying to force it down her throat.

Then the rough sound of her slow breathing suddenly stopped and her face turned a shade greyer. Her eyelids fluttered open – her eyes were unfocused – and she coughed his blood up again, puking a little.

"Elena!" he yelled at her and she was gone again, her slow breathing restored.  
But what had just happened? Why wouldn't her body accept his blood? There was no time to brood over that, he just scooped her up and ran to his car, pushing it to its, on that road highly illegal, max speed.

It must've appeared very odd to the citizens of the emergency room when a young man suddenly appeared right out of nowhere, carrying a young girl covered with blood. None of the doctors argued with the young man and nobody would let him wait. And he seemed to be very But then again, it appeared it truly was an emergency.  
The doctors immediately put the girl on a stretcher and rolled her away, and the young man followed, trying to get one of the doctors or nurses to turn around and face him, but they were all too busy and hurried away with the girl. This seemed to upset the young man enormously and people had to ask him to calm down.


End file.
